Tube Lab

Can you tell the difference between true vintage and reissue, between a rebrand and the real tube, watch and we'll show you how.
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[@vintagetubeamplifiers]

Great info, thank you so much. My wife told me I have said "tubes" in my sleep more then once, LOL.

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Hahahaha, ................great , you got the tube desease ............and there's no cure for it !......................Join the club!

[@audiorick841]

I have watched all your videos. This one is all they way up there. Awesome guys! 👊🏻

[@yaniv-nos-tubes]

great video! i work on live gigs with a few fender amps and ive retubed them with nos for tone ,versatility and longevity. you probably face a lot of guitar players so here is my ultimate set for 2 channel blackface style amps: v1 mullard i63 for a bassman like tone ,amazing for fender guitars and drive v2 ge 12ax7wa for great clean tones ,great for humbuckers and p90's. this set transforms the amp to a two headed tone monster that suites all the traditional guitars and sounds, upgrading the rest of the tubes will add to the effect but with current prices most people will be very happy with these two tubes from jazz through blues and rock, keep spreading the word.

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Radio Technique and Mazda..............ADZAM in belgium.......

[@jeffbrooke4892]

Another good program. I'd like to watch a follow up with your obsevations on what the difference is between a great tube and all the others. In other words, what are the structural differences between good and "run of the mill" tubes. Is it just quality control? I've dabbled in this stuff for nearly 40-years but have never came across material that explains how the good tubes were made and how the reproduction tubes just can't or don't hit that mark. Thanks again!

[@tubelab194]

Great idea! This is a topic I touch on almost every day of the week. And a couple of things are very common between the good sounding tubes and the meh stuff. One the companies had larger r&d facilities, and in many cases actually invented the type. Two they had an experienced work force and three, they often had their own wire and chemical plants! Mullard Blackburn is a prime example of this and other examples existed around the world. Bigger wasn't always better, but it helped a lot.

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

What many don't know is that those little tubes with very dark getters are the ones with a very well vacuum, slowly processed to better qualty of vacuum !!!!!! Often buyers refused those thinking bthey were used or lower quality than the shiny nice chrome looking gettering ............it allways made me smile , arguing was not an issue and impossible faced to the strong beliefs of auidiophiles who have no real knowledge of tube technology ! Some very high qualitty tubes (often for professional, military and medical use ) showed some traces of extended burn in before releasing to sales and were refused also ........hahaha.

[@DeadKoby]

This is interesting stuff. I fix guitar amps, and I've built a stereo music amps too. At present, if I fix an amp and put a "classic brand" tube that is a NewSensor made one... I use the term "Current Production"...... Most musicians know that there's only 3 significant factories now. NewSensor/Sovtek, JJ Electronic, and Psvane. The Shuguang china tubes are still floating around as surplus stock. With all the unrest /w/ Russia, pricing on the tubes has led me to buy mostly JJ stuff for repairs. Perhaps I don't have "magic ears"... but I think those tubes do an OK job for the average musician.

[@tubelab194]

I think that's reasonable. However for audio enthusiasts who really care about their sound a vintage mullard and a "reissue mullard" or "current production mullard" are two completely different tubes. Which of course was one of the significant pieces of information i wanted to share with my viewers. I doubt anyone who is experienced with vintage and current production tubes would ever mistake a $20 tube for a $100 tube. The viewers I'm always trying to help are new to the hobby.

[@peterpipe9015]

Which company makes fake tubes and where are they manufactured ?

[@tubelab194]

Unfortunately true fakes crop up in all high value high demand types. No single factory (that I'm aware of) produces fakes. I think the frauds are mostly perpetrated by individuals who just relabel Shuguang (Chinese) or E.European tubes. By using the same methods we showed (matching known true vintage tubes to reissues) you can quickly figure out if a tube is the real deal or not. If you don't have an example of the original vintage tube, a google search will often help and we have pictures of most common vintage types in our store listings.

[@peterpipe9015]

@@tubelab194 thanks i got some 5654w ge jan from amazon and compared them to voskhod 6j1 and the voskhod sounded better to me ,nicer highs and bass ,much tighter sounding . I suspected the 5654 could be chinese copies but i am no expert . The 5654 are advertised as dollatek matched pair